Black Forest Cuisine (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Jennifer Linder (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For the uninitiated, this collection of recipes makes an apt introduction to the cuisine of southwest Germany. Inflected with French, Swiss and Italian traditions, Black Forest cookery goes beyond the sauerkrauts, wursts and späetzles we associate with German food—though there's plenty of that here, too. In his introduction, the chef/owner of Philadelphia's historic City Tavern reveals that there are many similarities between the postwar eating habits of his native Black Forest and the 18th-century American dishes he now serves on a nightly basis (Germans began settling Pennsylvania around that time, Staib explains). Both emphasize fresh, local ingredients and hand-butchered meats. The book is divided not by courses but by styles of cooking associated with specific dining locations, be it a cafe, a gasthaus (a guesthouse that serves tavernlike food), a fashionable hotel or at your own table. Throughout, Staib shows equal affection for humble fare like Stuffed Tomatoes (filled with bologna and Swiss cheese) and his more sophisticated dishes, like Paupiettes of Brook Trout topped with salmon roe. Readers will come away with a taste of the indigenous foodstuffs of the region, from the asparagus in Smoked Trout Salad to the mirabelle plums in the Clafouti Tart. (Nov.)
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Product Description

If the only thing that comes to mind when you think of Black Forest cuisine is the infamous cream-slathered, cherry-studded Black Forest Cake, then Chef Walter Staib has a thing or two to show you!

Nestled in Southwestern Germany, the region surrounding the Black Forest, or Schwarzwald, is known throughout Europe and beyond for its rich and internationally influenced cuisine, making it a top destination for gourmands from around the world. In Black Forest Cuisine, renowned chef and cookbook author Walter Staib takes home chefs on a mouth-watering tour of the culinary treasures found in his homeland. Each chapter introduces dishes as they are served in a variety of Black Forest environs—from the comfort food of a Home Kitchen to the more portable meals of the Café, from the complicated banquets of a Gasthaus to the grand menus featured in fashionable Hotels. In this compendium of local yet worldly cuisine, Chef Staib shows that the cuisine of the Black Forest inspires much more than just a cake. Recipes include: • Hungarian Goulasch
• Spätzle & Potato Stew
• Bienenstich
• Sauerbraten
More than just a cookbook, Black Forest Cuisine is a photographic and culinary exploration of the famous region, lovingly presented by one of its own sons. Fully illustrated with 4-color photographs of the enchanting Black Forest and its mouth-watering food, this cookbook will transport readers to the warm and magical land that many Europeans already know and love.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (October 23, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762421355
• ISBN-13: 978-0762421350
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 8.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #341,405 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best German Cookbook EVER !, November 18, 2006

By	Isa Post "Isa" (AZ) - See all my reviews

This is the German-Cookbook I am looking for - for Years. Not even find this kind of Book in Germany. It has all the Recipes my Mother and Grandmother used to cook. The only (great) Difference: It is more "modern", with all the Spices you can buy today. In the Fifties and Sixties my Mother had only Pepper, Salt, Bayleaves and Maggi in her Kitchen. Never heard of Garlic, Basil, Rosmaryn etc. . I will cook ALL the Recipes in this Book. The Desserts and Cakes are wonderful, too. The Recipes are EASY to follow and the Photos are gorgeous. Because I lived only 50 miles away from the Black Forest, the Book is double special. I only wished THIS Book came out earlier !!!!! THANK YOU Walter Staib.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars European Cuisine Blending German Style, December 13, 2006

By	rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

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Neat that this renown chef famous due to 18th Century American cuisine completes dream to produce Black Forest cookbook.

This is fine effort of such, with wonderful prose by McGlinn and exceptional color photography by Deering.

Where Staib grew up in Black Forest into cusine family there was a blending of French, Italian and German cusine. He experienced it from different levels of the home table, cafe, gasthaus, and finer restaurants as diner and chef. The recipie collection is thus organized uniquely around these levels, flowing from appetizers, salads, soups, entrees, side dishes and desserts.

Fine collection with wide range of dishes, from home table comfort food to elaborate technique/ingredient recipes which will test the home gourmet. Of course there are those that would quickly come to mind, the Black Forest Cake (here very welcome step-by-step photos and descriptions of technique, which also accompany other recipes as well) and Spaetzle, and Cabbage Rolls. Also enjoy all the game dishes, particularly the Pheasant a la Souvarov; Vension Medallions with Cognac Cream Sauce.

Other recipes which caught my eye and graced the table: Stuffed Veal Breast Grandmother Style; Bee Sting Cake; Vols-au-Vent with Veal Ragout in the Queen's Style; Black Forest Home Fries; Poached Salmon with Tomatoes and Dill Cream Sauce; Smoked Trout and Asparagus Salad; Smoked Salmon Frittata.

Added nice feature is menu for special Black Forest celebrations such as Carnival, Asparagus Festival, Christmas and Saint Sylvester Night (NYears). Recipes from the collection are utilized here, as well as some new specific celebrative ones, e.g. Christmas Goose with Herbed Stuffing and Wassail and Stolen.

Exceptionally well done and fun to explore at various levels of this unique, and blended cuisine. Might also want to check out "Rockenwagner" and "New German Cookbook" for other excellent cookbooks in this cuisine vector.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Follow the breadcrumbs to Black Forest Cuisine, January 20, 2008

By	The Culinary Tourist (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

I share a kind of kinship with celebrity chef Walter Staib, though I am no kitchen witch. Like most Americans of German descent, my knowledge of the German culinary arts is limited to sausages, sauerkraut, and, with a little luck, Black Forest Cake laced with cherry liqueur. In my family, Oktoberfest conjures up frothy mugs of home-brewed beer and baskets brimming with warm, yeasty pretzels.

We don't know what we're missing, says Staib, author with Jennifer Lindner McGlinn of Black Forest Cuisine: The Classic Blending of European Flavors (Running Press, 2006) and chef-proprietor of Philadelphia's historic City Tavern restaurant. And though these dishes come from Munich, and not his beloved Black Forest, chef Staib makes sure the better-known Bavarian fare is served in elegant style. Among the many lunch and dinner offerings is fleischkäse, a pan-seared beef and pork terrine with sautéed onions and fried egg, served with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut; classic weiner schnitzel; and flavorful Hungarian goulash.

But if you want to experience the real magic of the Black Forest cuisine, you will have to step inside the pages of chef Staib's lavishly illustrated cookbook. Forewords by Dr. Tim Ryan, president of the Culinary Institute of America, and Franz Mitterer, publisher and founder of Art Culinaire, lead like a trail of well-seasoned breadcrumbs to the introduction by chef Staib. It is here that you will learn that the third-generation restaurateur began peeling garlic in his aunt and uncle's gasthaus at the age of four, and that he could de-bone a leg of veal by the time he was 12. No wonder he was accepted into an apprenticeship program at the renowned Hotel Post in Nagold. He clearly knew an onion from a shallot.

If the cuisine of the Black Forest is infused with flavors from France, Alsace-Lorraine, Hungary, Switzerland and even parts of Italy, it's because the region was at one time "one, big happy family," says Staib. Browse recipes like pork roast a la dijonaise or steak tartar and you'll feel like you're in a Parisian brasserie. The traditions and hospitality of the Black Forest, which evolved after Protestant Huguenots fled France in the 1600s, know no boundaries.

Staib's passion for food, and for telling the stories that go with it, make his Black Forest cookbook all the more delicious. Readers will travel with the author from his mother's green garden and orchards to fabulous hotels around the world. They will learn about Spargelzeit, the annual spring asparagus festival, and how to make chicken-wrapped shrimp with creamy saffron-herb sauce.

Ironically, it took a Nicaraguan to bring the worldly Walter Staib to the United States. That's where he met his wife, Gloria, who insisted on making Philadelphia their home. Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, the former mayor of Philadelphia, is so glad they did, he named chef Walter Staib culinary ambassador for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, home of the German Society of Pennsylvania, the oldest German social organization in the nation.

In April 2007, German President Horst Köhler came to Philadelphia to present chef Staib with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the highest tribute the Federal Republic can pay to individuals for service to the nation. "When I received the letter from the President announcing the award, I almost fell out of my tree," said Staib of the honor normally reserved for statesmen, scientists and Nobel Prize winners. "We had a big party to celebrate."

The effervescent Walter Staib cooks up a storm wherever he goes. His hospitality consulting firm, Concepts by Staib, is responsible for developing 450 restaurants worldwide. When I interviewed him by phone, he had just returned to the City Tavern from the three-day grand opening of the Mediterranean Village At Sandals Grande Antigua Resort & Spa in St. John's, Antigua.

A few days later, he left for the International Food and Wine Festival in Epcot, preparing his favorite recipes and signing cookbooks at a luncheon reception for 10,000 people in Orlando, Fla.

And where does the Governor's globe-trotting ambassador indulge his own culinary cravings when he returns to his adopted city of Philadelphia? "We have a dynamite Chinatown here," says Staib, "I love Asian food of all kinds. My idea of a relaxing meal is to get Chinese food and take it home."